District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Education

Update on State Review Panels

Background

The Board's Regulations on Underperforming Schools and Districts, 603 CMR 2.00, call for districts with Commonwealth Priority Schools to develop a District Plan for School Improvement that sets out the priority needs and the actions district leaders will take to support improvement at the schools. The regulations further call for the district to submit its plan to a State Review Panel, a group of highly qualified individuals appointed by the Board on the Commissioner's recommendation. The State Review Panel conducts a comprehensive review of each District Plan for School Improvement and then makes recommendations regarding the adequacy and viability of each plan to the Commissioner and the Board. This process informs the Board's decision-making as to whether to accept, reject, or direct that specific amendments be made to the District Plan for School Improvement.

Update

On March 31, 2008, the State Review Panel convened to begin reviewing District Plans for School Improvement submitted by leadership teams in the nine Commissioner's Districts. The attached schedule details the meeting dates for each district, as well as the names of the panelists and moderators assigned to work with each district team. At this point, 11 sessions have been completed:

• Boston - 5 sessions for 21 schools
• Lowell - 1 session for 5 schools
• Brockton - 1 session for 3 schools
• Worcester - 1 session for 3 schools
• Fall River - 1 session for 1 school
• Lawrence - 2 sessions for 6 schools

Two more sessions are scheduled over the next few weeks for Holyoke and New Bedford.

All of the districts came before the panels well prepared and ready to discuss the key improvement needs and initiatives that they had identified. The attached agenda outlines the meeting day schedule and format that was followed for each district.

The panels have noted several recurring issues:

1. Potential or actual changes in leadership at the top levels in seven of the nine Commissioner's Districts (Boston, Worcester, Lowell, Brockton, New Bedford, Holyoke & Springfield) and in many of the Commonwealth Priority Schools will require support and monitoring. These changes have implications for coaching and support for instructional leadership.

2. The districts need more help in addressing the teaching and learning needs of English language learners and students with special needs.

3. Superintendents frequently stress fiscal concerns and the potential impact of cutbacks on all of their improvement efforts.

4. Collective bargaining / union collaboration are areas that need support.

5. Distributed leadership and opportunities to engage teachers and other educators more deeply in improvement planning and implementation is an area of great promise, but districts need help thinking this through and finding ways to make it happen.

6. Building accountability systems within the district and within schools is an area that needs attention. The districts need more help in monitoring and supporting student progress (formative assessment and appropriate interventions) as well as in helping principals, teachers and others improve through a well-defined system of support and formative evaluation.

Next Steps

We will provide the Board with findings for each of the four areas in which the plans have been assessed:
Assessment Topic 1: Quality of the Plan
Assessment Topic 2: Quality of the Planning Process and the District's Presentation to the Panel Assessment Topic 3: Quality of Instructional Leadership
Assessment Topic 4: Quality of Systems in the District

Attachment 1 provides the specific indicators for each of the Assessment Topics.

We are planning to conduct feedback sessions with the superintendents, panelists and moderators to discuss the process and invite suggestions for improvement.

Beyond the nine Commissioner's Districts, 11 other districts have a total of 13 newly identified Commonwealth Priority Schools (CPS). These districts and schools have had limited interaction to date with the Department in school improvement work. We intend to formally notify these districts/schools in May of their CPS status and conduct technical assistance sessions during the summer to help familiarize these districts/schools with the processes involved in this accountability phase. State Review Panels will be convened early in the next school year to review this group of District Plans for School Intervention.

Attachments (3):

	Assessment Topics and Indicators
	Schedule for State Panel Review Meetings (includes names of panelists and moderators)
	Sample Meeting Day Agenda